Just nip off the Clydeside Expressway at the Dumbarton Road roundabout and park your chariot outside the West End copshop on Dumbarton Road free for 30 minutes. What more assurance could the light haulier require that your load will remain unmolested? Then stroll to Kennoway coffee. This small coffee shop is run by a dapper gentleman with a superb beard, jeans tightly rolled at the ankles and no socks*. He does of course have shoes and seems to operate the place single-handed with no obvious strain. Or socks. Perhaps he has pop socks you say. Yes.
Kennoway Coffee just seems to be ahead of the game in almost all of the key coffee shop aesthetics and delivery of the essentials. There are no tables, instead the high, glass-fronted L shaped space has an extremely comfortable L shaped banquette in a tasteful fabric. Tables sprout from a single root attached to said banquette in a practical and chic manner. The cups have no handles! Instead they use a thumb grip. Marvel at this. *Photo to follow. Open your mind to the possibilities. Reader, it works. The excellent coffee is served not too hot and you can choose your blend. One can also buy a range of their beans and a few coffee-making accoutrements. The sweet baking and sourdough toasties are generously sized and superb. Yes, there are nods to the inevitable coffee-shop aesthetic of walls stripped back to the brick, laminated panelling and downlighters but here it works. The loo is spacious. An essential quality for many situations you may find yourself in.
The customers are West End-y but in a good way; a student couple, a beardy man reading a book, middle aged people with a wee dog. Lots of people who seems to be regulars. Prices are also West End-y but at this quality that is fine, deserved even. There seems to be no pressure in Kennoway Coffee and I am tempted to have a little powernap along the banquette. Service is quick, friendly, calm, unprepossessing. The dapper gentleman has everything under control. All the advantages of the high-end coffee shop are here, with none of the annoyances or pretension. You just want to linger in Kennoway Coffee. So I have another coffee, a different blend as I am a pro. I saunter back to the van well after 30 minutes. No ticket of course. Outside the copshop is likely a safe zone from wardens. Life is good.
This really is a great café and I hereby inaugurate, nominate and award Kennoway Coffee as the Winner of Cup and Saucer of the Month**, Seat of the Month, Toastie of the Month, Décor of the Month and a top three finisher in the Coffee, Baking, Service, Toilet and Price categories.
*On a supplementary visit the dapper gentleman sported extremely spiffy patterned socks. Admirable.
**Must get that photo.
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